Summer Festival Preview #1 - Homelands

It’s that time of year again… fun and frolicking in the sun/mud/vomit as the festival season rears its bleary-eyed head, having quite frankly not had quite enough sleep since last time around. We Love…Homelands has laid claim to kicking off the summer silly season for over half a decade now and seems to be edging ever closer to an all-rounder music festival status as opposed to the sweaty-but-legal all night rave that was its original incarnation. The diverse array of headliners on the live stage this year include the mind and genre-bending Beck, much hyped electro-rockers The Bravery and in a late - some might say bizarre addition - Babyshambles (Scary rumours of Pete and his beau going back-to-back on the wheels of steel are rife). Meanwhile The Streets, Roots Manuva, Mylo and the Audio Bullys will be pulling out all the stops to ensure live British dance and hip-hop is represented with aplomb.

The dance-is-dead doom mongers will be pointing to Homelands recent flirtation with ‘proper bands’ as another nail in the dance coffin but the mouth watering ensemble of DJ talent and live acts from around the world paints a very different picture. Festival favourites 2 Many DJ’s are back mashing it up alongside such dance luminaries as Digweed, Felix da Housecat, Darren Emerson and Dimitri From Paris. Once again there is a dedicated hip-hop arena with the likes of the excellent Jazzy Jeff, Sugar Hill label legends Grandmaster Melle Mel and Scorpio and DMC World Champion Kentaro scratching up a storm. Drum and Bass heads are also well catered for as long running London night Movement represents with all the usual suspects and a host of live PAs.

With the quirky addition of 80’s Electro pioneers The Human League and more punk funk from across the pond courtesy of Radio 4, Homelands is having a real go at expanding its horizons. Of course, dance music is still its staple, and the eclectic range of DJ’s on offer underlines this fact. From the jacking sounds of Tiga and brooding German remix masters Tiefschwarz to party favourites Joey Negro, Norman Jay and the irrepressible Groove Armanda, you’ve got an appeal broad enough to reach far further than the glow stick gurners so often associated with this type of festival in the past. Lets just hope Kate does the decent thing and ‘forgets’ to bring her records.

Tickets are priced at £56.50.

check out the www.welovehomelands.com page for more info